7 Reasons That Show Why Your Business Isn’t Writing Enough Content

Quality content is hugely important for any business’s website, particularly if your brand isn’t widely known (at least, not yet). It can be used to help build brand awareness, drive traffic to your website and, ultimately, increase conversions.

Here, I go into the reasons that show why your business isn’t writing enough content, and why it’s so important to have a solid content strategy to avoid these issues for your website.

Let’s jump straight in!

The Seven Symptoms Of Not Writing Enough Content

1. You’re Not Gaining Enough Traffic from Organic Search

What is organic search, I hear you ask?

Organic search, also known as natural search, includes all unpaid search engine results. Therefore, anyone that arrives on your website from a search engine without clicking an ad is classed as organic traffic.

While PPC and Social Ads certainly have their place in any marketing strategy, gaining traffic organically should not be undervalued. Whether you recruit an in-house writer, use a freelancer or enlist the services of a digital marketing agency like Embryo, good quality content and SEO will always come at some kind of upfront cost. However, once your shiny new content is added to your website, you’ll find that outlay to be completely worthwhile. If you’ve invested well in relevant, helpful content written for your target audience, you should see your organic traffic levels start to increase without the need for huge ad spends each month. We’ll go into the reasons why this happens over the next few points.

2. Your Website Isn’t Ranking for Relevant Keywords in Your Industry

You can add pages and pages of content to your website, but if those pages have thin content and they aren’t ranking for keywords, phrases and questions that are relevant to your industry, you won’t be found by your ideal customers in search engines. It might improve your organic traffic generally for a time, but you’re less likely to convert that traffic if your content isn’t useful for your target customer.

To find the relevant terms for your niche, it’s important that proper keyword research is undertaken before the content is written, so the target words can be included naturally by writing about the correct subjects. Awkwardly shoehorning them into already-written content, known as ‘keyword stuffing’, is a huge red flag to Google that you’re trying to manipulate the search engine results.

The main takeaway here is: content should be written for both humans and search engines in order to satisfy both parties. Leaning too far one way can damage your relationship with the other.

3. Your Content Doesn’t Answer Your Target Customers’ Questions

When someone is searching for a new product or service to buy, or even just thinking about buying in the future, they go on an adventure through the ‘messy middle’ of the buying journey. Here, the potential buyer will research the ins and outs of different products from various brands, read plenty of reviews and compare prices across a number of websites. Generally, the more expensive the product, the longer this process seems to take whilst the researcher makes a decision.

The aim here is to provide all the information your potential customer needs when researching your product or service before they’re ready to buy. If your content strategy is strong, you’ll have found all of the key phrases and questions that your target customer is interested in, and you’ll make sure those are discussed or answered within your website’s pages, blog posts and FAQs. If those researching find your website helpful and memorable during their search, there’s a higher likelihood that they’ll return to you when the time comes to buy.

Google has recently started highlighting FAQs in search results, so this is a great way to help get your content on that golden first page. If you’re answering the questions your prospective customers are asking search engines, you’re more likely to get those prospects onto your website and one step closer to conversion.

4. Your Website Is Not Authoritative

If you have a wide range of industry-relevant, keyword-rich content on your website, it makes it easy for search engines and visitors to understand what your business does, what product or service you provide, and what your website is about. It also builds trust with the user; if your content is well-written and well-researched, it sends out trust signals to the reader, instilling a sense of confidence in your brand. Trust is a key factor when it comes to actually make a purchase – you want to create that relationship as early in the buying journey as possible by giving the best help and advice you can.

It’s also more likely that your content will be linked to other websites as a source of reliable information, helping to build your backlink profile, which will in turn improve your authority in Google’s eyes. Useful, relevant content positions you as an expert in your niche, helping boost your authoritativeness.

5. You’re Not Getting Return Visitors

Having new visitors arrive on your website can be an exciting prospect, and seeing those user numbers escalate is a great feeling. However, you need to make sure you’re still keeping track of those visitors who come back to your site, having already visited before.

If they’re searching for your website specifically, it means they liked what they saw the first time they stopped by. If they’ve remembered your brand name well enough to seek you out, chances are they’ll mention you to others in a similar position to themselves, whether that’s in conversation over a coffee, sharing your website with a colleague or tagging a friend in one of your social media posts; all giving your brand greater visibility.

If the reader found the information on your website useful, interesting or to be exactly what they were searching for, they may even have bookmarked your site to return to later. This is the ultimate goal when it comes to organic search: you want your website or brand to be searched for directly, rather than found through search engines.

6. You Haven’t Posted to Your Blog in a While

If you’re not updating your website regularly, it can look like you’re not interested in keeping up to date with the latest news and trends in your sector. For example, if your last blog post or news article was posted two years ago, your prospective customers may think you’re not even an active business anymore and go elsewhere.

If there’s nothing new on your website to crawl, Google won’t bother stopping by and your site will start to drop down the search results. Additionally, the topics your potential buyers search for could have changed over time, so whilst your content may have been relevant when it was posted, it may not be helpful a few years down the line. Search volumes for your industry’s keywords can fluctuate over time too, so it’s pertinent to monitor your page rankings, and also review your keyword research and the content on your main landing pages from time to time.

Posting good quality content on a regular basis keeps your website active and gives the impression to both search engines and visitors that you’re still operational and providing useful, relevant updates in your field.

7. You’re Struggling to Find Interesting Articles to Post on Your Social Media Pages

Interesting new content can quickly go viral on social media, and help get your brand and website seen by a much wider audience. Images and videos/reels work well on certain social media platforms, but unless they’re either funny or insightful, you’re not likely to get that all-important share or click-through, and users quickly move on. However, that’s not to say that these types of content aren’t great for brand awareness, as they could get you, countless new followers, to share your impressive new content with.

Blog content containing top tips, ‘how to’ guides or insightful opinions that resonate with your audience can be a great way to get your ideal customers on your website and keep them there. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook or a link tree in Instagram, it’s important you have this type of content available to share with your prospects.

Become a Knowledge Hub For Your Customers

I can’t reiterate enough the importance of being that source of knowledge for your potential customers. The goal is to cover all bases so your customers see you as an expert in your field and keep coming back to your site for the answers to all of their queries. Then when it comes time for them to make a purchase, you’re sure to be somewhere near the top of their list. Be sure to update your content regularly to keep up with the latest trends and news in your sector, and keep those visitors coming back for more.

Need some help getting your content strategy up to scratch? Our Organic Team here at Embryo is brimming with SEO experts and talented content writers ready to help take your website to the next level. Get in touch with us today to see what we can do for your business!